HIPAA News

Aruba Networks to Deliver Secure Mobility Solutions to Samarion

(Dec 19, 2007)-- Samarion, a privately-held healthcare technology corporation dedicated to improving the quality of elder care, has selected Aruba Networks, a global leader in user-centric networks and secure mobility solutions, to provide wireless LAN and security solutions for use in elder care and other long-term care facilities. SamarionSolution, the long-term care industry's leading Enterprise Quality Improvement System, will use Aruba solutions to help provide restraint-free fall prevention; wandering and elopement prevention; resident, staff and visitor safety and security management; staff management and facility monitoring; and a family-and-friends communications system to greatly improve the quality of the lives of nursing home residents and their loved ones.

Aruba's network reliably and securely delivers critical alerts and status updates to staff members equipped with Wi-Fi enabled smart phones, enabling rapid response and significant staff efficiency improvements. Additionally, the network provides a back-up for the existing wired LAN, ensuring business continuity in the event of a wiring fault or outage. Additional applications will be incorporated into SamarionSolution, employing Aruba's network in the areas of staff mobility and agility.

"We've employed the strengths of Aruba's secure mobility networks in two critical tasks in all nursing home facilities in which the SamarionSolution is implemented," said Samer N'Ser, President and CTO of Samarion. "First, the network delivers critical alerts and status messages to smart phones carried by the nursing home's caregiver staff. For example, if a nursing home resident attempts to exit a bed unassisted, the staff is instantly notified. Next, the SamarionSolution records the event and all subsequent replies from the smart phones as received over Aruba's Wi-Fi network. Back-up connectivity is provided via Wi-Fi modems attached to all network switches, ensuring automated failover to the wireless network if the wired network malfunctions. This architecture raises the quality of resident care and ensures our system's compliance with HIPAA record-keeping and privacy requirements."

Under the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, long-term care facilities are required to provide services that enable residents to attain and maintain physical, mental and psychosocial well-being. Additionally, SamarionSolution answers the call for recommendations made by the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care in its Final Report  addressing four critical elements: quality, workforce, technology and finance. Using Aruba's wireless LAN and client-to-core security solutions, Samarion can continuously monitor resident safety and check to ensure that a resident's routines and regimes are followed.

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